Our Cambridge IGCSE™ English (as an Additional Language) coursebook and teacher’s resource are coming soon. In the meantime, we’ve been working with our authors to create a series of blog posts to support you from first teach. In this blog, author Annie Altamirano offers a quick guide to important academic English skills that you can use with your students.
There are some important academic English skills students need to learn and develop for Cambridge IGCSE™ English (as an Additional Language), such as skim reading and note-taking. In this blog post, you can find some information and quick tips to help your students.
Skim reading
Skimming is a strategy in which you read rapidly, focusing on the main ideas of a text in order to get a general overview of the content.
When skimming, remind learners to:
- skip text that provides details, stories, data, or other elaboration
- focus on the introduction, first and last sentences of paragraphs, words in bold type or italics
- focus on text features such as headings, subheadings or bullet points
- avoid reading complete sentences unless they appear to be useful at first glance
Scanning
In contrast with skimming, scanning is reading a text quickly in order to find specific information such as names, dates or figures. It can be used in previewing a text as it will tell you about the general idea and tone of the material, which is helpful when reviewing and answering questions that require factual support. Scanning requires concentration and students may find these tips useful:
- If the topic of the text is completely new, skim it first to get a general idea of what it is about
- Read each question completely before starting to scan
- Choose keywords from the question itself
- Look for answers to only one question at a time
- Once you have spotted a keyword, read the surrounding text carefully and decide if it is relevant
- Re-read the question to determine if the answer you found answers the question
- Highlight the essential details of the text so that you can quickly return to them later on
Making inferences
Making an inference involves using the clues in the text, as well as our experience as a reader or listener, to figure out what is not directly said or written. You can help students develop this strategy by:
- Modelling so that students understand what it involves. Use pictures or book covers. Cover a part of the picture and ask about what is happening in the picture or what the story will be about. Think aloud as you make connections between the facts and your prior knowledge
- Discussing situations in which they do not have all the information they need and have to make logical guesses, e.g. figuring out what someone is trying to say or what is happening in a film sequence or in a photograph
- Asking students to record the facts that are stated in a text, along with their background knowledge using graphic organisers
- Using a variety of genres to practice making inferences and having students practice justifying their interpretations, being explicit about which parts of the text they used to gain facts and the background knowledge they used to make the inference
- Reminding students that they can change or modify their inferences as they read or listen and allowing them to share different interpretations of a text
Note-taking
Taking good notes is an important skill students should develop since it can help them focus and understand main concepts in a much better way. The most common problem students usually face when taking notes is determining what to write down, as well as what the main points of what they are reading or listening to are. Here are some tips you can share with them:
- Look out for introductory remarks. They often include a summary or an overview of the main points.
- Look for common transition words and phrases such as “The main reason why …”, “There are X main…”, “To sum up…”, “Some examples of….”, “In other words….”
- Look out for repeated words or concepts, or a vocal emphasis on certain words. These are often important.
- Pay attention to final remarks as they often provide a summary of important points
- Learn how to use abbreviations as short-cuts while listening
Planning an essay
Quite often, students fail to appreciate the importance of planning their writing. Therefore, it is essential to remind them that planning an essay enables them to come up with a logical structure for their argument and to decide what to include, and what can be left out.
All exam essay questions start with a question and this question should be the starting point of their thinking and the focus of their essay.
Therefore, students should:
- Read the question more than once and underline the key words they need to use in their answer
- Start by taking 10 – 15 minutes to create a very detailed plan, then gradually aim at reducing the time until they can make a suitable plan in only 5 minutes
- Remember that the plan needs to be clear and structured, so that they know exactly what sections the essay will have and what they will include in each section
- Ensure that the conclusion forms part of the essay plan and that it includes a restatement of the major argument in one sentence if possible
Annie Altamirano is an ELT & ESL writer, teacher and trainer. She is also the author of our Cambridge IGCSE™ English (as an Additional Language) teacher’s resource and a Global English mentor for the Cambridge Teacher Support Service.
Read more from Annie and discover four simple grammar strategies for your Cambridge IGCSE™ English (as an Additional Language) classroom.
